Thomas Garfit was a British Conservative Party

Conservative Party (UK)

The Conservative Party, formally the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a centre-right political party in the United Kingdom that adheres to the philosophies of conservatism and British unionism. It is the largest political party in the UK, and is currently the largest single party in the House...

 politician.

He was elected as a Member of Parliament

Member of Parliament

A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...

 (MP) for the borough of Boston

Boston (UK Parliament constituency)

Boston was a parliamentary borough in Lincolnshire, which elected two Members of Parliament to the House of Commons from 1547 until 1885, and then one member from 1885 until 1918, when the constituency was abolished.-History:...

 in Lincolnshire

Lincolnshire

Lincolnshire is a county in the east of England. It borders Norfolk to the south east, Cambridgeshire to the south, Rutland to the south west, Leicestershire and Nottinghamshire to the west, South Yorkshire to the north west, and the East Riding of Yorkshire to the north. It also borders...

 at an unopposed by-election in August 1878, after the resignation of the Conservative MP John Wingfield Malcolm

John Malcolm, 1st Baron Malcolm

Lieutenant-Colonel John Wingfield Malcolm, 1st Baron Malcolm CB, VD was a British soldier and Conservative politician.-Background and education:...

. Garfit was re-elected at the 1880 general election

United Kingdom general election, 1880

-Seats summary:-References:*F. W. S. Craig, British Electoral Facts: 1832-1987* British Electoral Facts 1832-1999, compiled and edited by Colin Rallings and Michael Thrasher *...

, but an election petition

Election petition

An election petition refers to the procedure for challenging the result of a Parliamentary election or local government election in the United Kingdom and in Hong Kong.- Outcomes :...

 was lodged against the result, and the election was declared void on 3 August 1880. The writ

Writ of election

A writ of election is a writ issued by the government ordering the holding of a special election for a political office.In the United Kingdom and in Canada, this is the only way of holding an election for the House of Commons...

 was suspended, and a royal commission

Royal Commission

In Commonwealth realms and other monarchies a Royal Commission is a major ad-hoc formal public inquiry into a defined issue. They have been held in various countries such as the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and Saudi Arabia...

 was established to investigate elections in the borough.

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